Dear Member,
By Enquiries
on Evolution
The concept of the Unity of Life developed in our last letter leads us naturally to that of an ordered plan in which this unity is manifested and through which it becomes increasingly apparent.
V. Wallace Slater, a well-known English Theosophist, has written: 'It is a tenet of Theosophy that we live in an ordered universe, that there is a Plan behind the apparent aimlessness of evolution, and that human evolution is an integral part of the whole pattern. This implies that the world, in fact the whole universe, proceeds in its passage through time according to recognizable laws.' (This Dynamic Universe). Thus it is possible for us to know this plan, at least in part, and to cooperate with it.
To the Darwinian theory of the evolution of the complex form from the simple, Theosophy adds the idea of an evolving consciousness, at first vague and instinctual, but gradually becoming more alert, responsive, and specialised; and by its own development compelling the evolution of new and subtler physical vehicles for its expression. The potentials of this expanding consciousness are thus considered illimitable.
In modern science we find not only the recognition of an evolutionary process throughout nature, but also an increasing perception of an innate design or pattern in that process. Crystallography, for example, indicates the existence of a basic pattern in the mineral kingdom. In the field of biology there is recognition of some factor or factors which persistently bring organic order out of environmental disorder. A number of eminent biologists see in the 'goal-directed' behaviour of protoplasm the rudimentary manifestation of what later, in the human psyche, becomes conscious directed purpose.
Theosophy says that all growth, all evolution, is purposeful. Yet we should not think of every detail of the evolutionary plan as being prepared in advance by some extracosmic deity and neatly tied with a pretty cosmic bow, ready for presentation to a waiting world. The archetype - the goal, the perfection to be achieved during the cycle - is established with the first creative ideation, and the Creator is inherent in every element of that which is created, but the means of achieving the ultimate goal are adaptive and manipulative, just as biologists have found to be the case with cellular growth and we may have discovered in achieving our own goals. Even failures play their part. They are not losses, for everything is used; there is a strict observance of economy in nature. If we can look clearly at our own failures, we can see how valuable they have been in the economy of our personal growth.
It is clear, then, that evolution is not a mere mechanical process running on from some original momentum. Sir James Jeans, the noted British scientist, comments in his book, The Mysterious Universe: 'The universe begins to seem to scientists more like a great thought than a great machine, and the laws which govern it are more like the laws which govern the dancing of a cotillion than they are like the laws of a machine.' They seem volitional rather than automatic; they are dependable and observable, yet they hold forever the potential of creative innovation. But, mysteriously, the innovation does not create confusion; rather it seems to grow logically out of the inner meaning of the dance. Such steps as are no longer appropriate become transformed into that which is useful to an ever-expanding synthesis. Translated into other terms, an example would be the fact that the discoveries of Einstein do not wholly invalidate, although they greatly modify, those of Newton; they throw a more brilliant light on what is taking place and immeasurably deepen our comprehension of nature's laws. Who is to say what further steps of the cotillion will be revealed as human intuition becomes a more sensitive instrument for the development of the Plan?
As a further analogy, there is what we might call a 'cosmic time clock' in the unfolding of the Plan. It is not a clock which has been 'wound' to run on mechanically; rather it is an indicator of the hidden purpose in the sweep of time. Each age (which is a minor cycle within the greater cycle) has its own goal, a particular principle to establish. Each principle has to wait until its hour has struck for its accuracy to be made clear out of the data and tools supplied by its predecessor. While the age is clarifying, or bringing into objectivity, the principle which is its evolutionary 'assignment', it is learning to apply the preceding principle in action. Thus each striking of the clock brings a new insight. No idea stands alone and isolated, but becomes an integral part of the total process and of the total accumulated resources.
Again, if we search our own experience, we can see the operation of this law in miniature, so to speak. Each stage of our growth has its own assignment; every step forward carries within it a synthesis of all the previous steps. When the forward step comes, we simultaneously put into action the strengths and capacities we have thus far developed and begin the unfolding of greater ones.
Our next letter will deal with the Law of Rhythm and Cyclic Progression, which is a method inherent in the evolutionary process for the achievement of the goal of realising our inherent divinity.
We should like now to leave with you these words of Mr. C. Jinarajadasa, a former president of the Theosophical Society:
To see the plan is to have the Beatific Vision; to work for the plan is to change one's mortal nature to that of a deathless immortal. Deathlessness in life, Eternity in time, Divinity in humanity, are his who, understanding the Plan, works for it unceasingly.
